Hi. Don't give up on oak yet. It's really hard and ages beautifully. Even with the bumps and knocks of everyday life it'll go on looking fantastic -- just with more character. Most materials look their best when they leave the factory then only go downhill after that. Good quality wood keeps looking good, even though it no longer looks new. I'm a furniture guy rather than a flooring guy but I do have an oak floor (and a dog!) and it's been fantastic. There's a German company called Osmo who make some great wood finishes, lots of them intended for flooring. I use one of their products for my furniture, although it's actually really intended for floors. It's called Poly X and is a "hard wax oil". That's a mix of oil (so it brushes on and into the wood) plus some really hard wax (that's dissolved in the product until it's applied). When the liquid dries and the solvent evaporates the wax goes rock hard and forms a barrier of protection. They make some pretty grand claims on their packaging which I was skeptical about. I'm not going to vouch for anything they claim but I do know this: I ran a test of my own where I poured boiling hot, super-strong black tea onto a test board of Ash which had been finished with two coats of Poly x. I left it overnight and was able to clean it off in the morning, and it left no trace whatsoever on the wood. Not sure how it would cope with your dogs' accidents but it's worth having a look into.

Because it is almost impossible to grout between the tiles and it look very untidy and not to mention the mould that the surface will attract. unless I am wrong and a stone supplier might correct me no sealent will completely deal such a rough surface. hope that helps :)

You need to 'tank' the inside of the planters (just like a basement they are holding water). Dig back the soil from behind the retaining walls, let them dry out, then paint on two coats of bitumastic paint - ask at your local builders merchants, I usually specify Permaseal. Then you have options. You can either re-render the walls, or you can clad them with almost anything. I like to use a stone cladding tile, although they are quite expensive to buy they are really quick and easy to fix. It's also a good idea to prime the front face of the wall before applying any cladding. You can use treated timber for a cheap alternative to stone. I love the pebble mosaic sheets, particularly the stacked pebble, they look great on outside walls. You can stick sheets of stainless steel to the faces of wall, also Corten steel looks great and is very cheap. Here's a photo of some slate clad retaining walls at one of my projects. Hope this helps.

Such a talking point! A couple of thoughts on other options…. You could try sticking vinyl peel & stick removable wallpaper right on top of the Perspex. I have NuWallpaper in my kitchen as a temporary measure and think it would withstand your bath area just fine. It’s inexpensive and DIY. You aren’t likely to match the existing tile, but you could tile the area in a complementary colour. You could also create a design that incorporates other similar white tiles to tie it all together.